We arrived in Shanghai well past midnight. My friend in Shanghai offered to come and pick us up at the airport but our flight from Zhangjiajie was delayed by about an hour. Most flights in China are delayed by at least an hour. They tend not to tell you it would be delayed by an hour. They tell you it would be ten minutes late, then tell you 30 minutes, then an hour, then you are in the plane, and the plane waits on the runway for another 20 minutes.
Coming to Shanghai from Zhangjiajie 張家界, one of the shadiest and ugliest cities in China made such a strong impression on us. When we were on the plane, we both felt so exhilarated to find a western, clean toilet. By the time I saw the clean, posh toilet in my friend's apartment, I felt like bursting into tears out of joy.
Three years ago, I visited Shanghai with a Taiwanese friend. I felt quite disgruntled against the Shanghainese at that time: I thought they were rude, uncivilised, and dirty. But this time around, I felt that the whole city had changed drastically in three years! It is now so similar to Taipei--Taiwanese restaurants and tea stands occupy every street in downtown Shanghai; the Shanghainese speak a much softer Mandarin quite similar to the soft tone of Taiwanese Mandarin; the underground is efficient, clean, and well air-conditioned; the streets in general are un-stinky and clean. However, there are still some differences between Shanghai and Taipei that still gives me a slight sense of cultural superiority. The Shanghainese, being Mainlanders, spit on the ground on the street, which is something that the Taiwanese normally don't do; the Taiwanese tend to be very welcoming and friendly whereas the Shanghainese still have this Communist China attitude and they would roll their eyes at you when you ask for directions or get very impatient with you when you can't make a decision within one second; the Shanghainese try to get on and off the tube trains all in one chaotic mess whereas in Taipei, we would always let people get off the trains first before trying to board; the Shanghainese shops try very hard to cheat anyone of money while there is usually no "foreign prices" in Taipei even if you are white (we might have "Mainland Chinese prices" just to piss the Mainlanders off).
Food in Shanghai is by far the best we have had so far -- since it is such an international city, it has all the famous foods from the provinces of China whether it be Sichuan, Beijing, Yunnan, Hunan, Cantonese, Taiwanese, or Shanghainese. I took my friend on a grand Chinese food tour so she could have a taste of all the famous dishes available in China. She was so stuffed with food breakfast, lunch, and dinner that she eventually went on a food strike and chewed on peaches for dinner instead. I also introduced her to the famous Taiwanese tea stand drinks -- fresh passion fruit green tea, pudding milk tea with brown sugar, grapefruit green tea, taro milk tea, bubble milk tea, jasmine green tea, all thirty percent sweetness and normal amount of ice (you can specify what level of sweetness and coldness).
The following are photos of the Sichuanese food we had in Shanghai.
Then there is also the Cantonese food we tried. The most interesting dish was the papaya clam dessert. It was a papaya dug out and filled in with a snow white clam. We then ate it with honey and coconut milk. It was super delicious!
Then there is the Yunnan food.
This city offers such a variety. On the first day, we went to Tianzifang 田子坊, which sells all sorts of traditional Chinese souvenirs and handicrafts like silk scarves and umbrellas, Mao era notebooks, glass pendants with Chinese ribbons and glass vases with traditional Chinese meanings, Chinese purses and handbags, chopsticks, leather bags, and so on.
The second day, we went to the People's Park 人民公園 and People's Square 人民廣場 and just walked through the park. It had a very scenic lotus pond with lotus sticking out the height of people. There were also groups of Chinese men playing Chinese chess. Department stores and shopping malls and shopping streets were virtually everywhere. From cheap street clothes and trinkets to expensive brand names like Chanel and Gucci, this city offered them all. However, when you go shopping, remember to always check in at least three shops and compare prices. The same things are often offered at about half or even less than the "market prices." Watch out for "foreign prices" as well. Haggling is considered a form of entertainment for the Chinese while westerners often find it irritating and time-consuming. Remember that not even museums and the Yu Garden offer the best prices. You can often find the same things at half the prices outside of these tourist spots.
The following are photos of the People's Park.
Getting online in China is quite a spontaneous and case-by-case affair. Starbucks offers China Mobile wireless but it is so slow you want to kill yourself. Furthermore, you need a Chinese mobile number in order to register. You need to try out less frequented Starbucks and maybe their internet speed would be more tolerable. However, some cafes offer wifi and they would specify that at the entrance.
Yu Garden 豫園 is definitely worth a visit. The whole area is built in the same style -- traditional Chinese wooden architecture with big flashy golden Chinese characters. The area outside the garden is usually buzzing with tourists but the garden itself is quite calming. The garden can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (15th century or so) and though it is not big, it demonstrates the southern Chinese garden style quite well. The alleys twist at unexpected spots and with every step you take, you have a different perspective of the garden. The garden also prides itself in presenting a harmonious union of nature (artificially made to look as natural as possible) and human beings. Tourists who came to the garden seemed to be of a higher education standard and were quite well behaved compared to most of the Chinese tourists I had encountered so far.
Following are photos of the touristy area around Yu Garden.
Following are photos of the Yu Garden.
On the third day, we visited the Shanghai Museum. It is one of the best museums I had ever visited -- aesthetically presented, lit in a way that brought out the beauty of the pieces, and complete with both Chinese and English descriptions. It is definitely worth a three or four hour visit with a lunch or tea break in between.
The Bund, the poshest area in this city, is best visited at night when the neon lights are blazing and even the boats are in neon blue. However, it is also one of the most expensive places to hang out at on this planet. We went to Bar Rouge right across the river from the Oriental Pearl and the minimum spending was 2000 RMB per group. The waiter first said 3000 RMB for my friend and me. Then I made to stand up and leave and the minimum spending went to 2000 RMB. I felt absolutely cheated of my money so I still stood up and left. According to my guidebook from Taiwan, the minimum spending should be about 200 RMB per person, definitely not 1000 RMB! I did not feel like haggling in such a posh bar so the best thing to do was just to simply leave.
On the last night before my friend took off back to Europe, I visited Shanghai Bookstore and got myself a load of Chinese movies, usually about ancient Chinese history, or folk stories about fairies falling in love with human men. Going to the movies would cost about 30-50 RMB but a DVD would cost about 20-35 RMB. Just make sure your DVD driver can read region six DVDs. We watched two movies. The first, Red Cliff 赤壁, is a story about the Three Kingdom Period (third century) based on a historical novel written in the Ming Dynasty (15th century thereabouts). The actors are from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Japan (none of them are dubbed so you get an assortment of accents, which was quite fascinating to me). The second, 錦衣衛 14 Blades, is a martial arts movie based loosely on Ming Dynasty history but elaborated fiercely based on martial arts movie conventions. Martial arts movies tend to comprise of a lot of fighting scenes. They usually have romance plots but the romance is usually subtle and the characters tend to flirt with each other through music, martial arts, dance, poetry, and their eyes and rarely kiss or do anything too sensual or sexual.
